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1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of painting. A labor-intensive and time-consuming aspect of painting is the job of xe2x80x9cedgingxe2x80x9d, a term commonly used in the field to refer to the application of paint to the edge of one surface, but not onto an adjacent surface at the point where two surfaces meet. Edging is often a required aspect of painting around doorframes, window frames, baseboards, and where a ceiling meets walls.
2. Description of Prior Art
The most common methods of edging are by either masking off areas that are to be unpainted with masking tape, thus protecting them from the application of paint during the painting process, or by using a paintbrush to xe2x80x9ccutxe2x80x9d a straight line around unpainted surfaces. Both of these methods are very time-consuming and labor-intensive. A device that reduces the amount of time to accurately apply paint to the edge of one surface, but not onto an adjacent surface, would be extremely desirable.
A number of prior devices have been developed in an effort to reduce the labor-intensive burden of the edging process. One such apparatus is illustrated in the Anderson patent, U.S. Pat No. 3,623,180. The Anderson device includes a plate that mounts directly onto the roller mechanism and which acts as a shield to prevent the application of paint to an adjacent edge. One edge of the Anderson shield is straight; the straight edge of the shield is pressed flush against the painted surface during the painting process, and the paint shield rotates as necessary to keep the shield flush against the wall while the paint roller applicator (known in the art as a roller cover) applies paint.
The limitation of the Anderson device is that the shield prevents the roller cover from applying paint all the way to the adjacent edge. After a single pass, the Anderson device leaves a thin but noticeable unpainted line around adjacent edges on the surface intended to be painted. A further problem is that repeated passes of the Anderson device cause paint to spread and seep under the paint shield and inadvertently spread to the adjacent unpainted surface.
The Deck patent, U.S. Pat. No. 3,369,269, is a similar device developed in recognition of the need to direct and control the application of paint on the painted surface all the way to the edge, including the area under the bottom edge of the shield. The Deck apparatus utilizes a thin line of bristles that are sandwiched between two shield plates and protrude beyond the bottom edges of the shield plates and are configured in a narrow line approximately the same width as the thickness of the shield. The Deck apparatus also utilizes a handle with two arms, one of which attaches to a roller cover, and another that attaches to a shield.
One limitation of the Deck apparatus is in the placement of the bristles, since they protrude directly from and along an edge of the shield, the length of the bristles must be short. Short bristles lack the flexibility that longer bristles have, and the lack of flexibility hinders the smooth and controlled application of paint. Another limitation is that, like the Anderson patent, the shield blocks paint from getting to the edge of the surface to be painted. Furthermore, since the brush is composed of a thin line of bristles running parallel to the plane of the shield plate, it is difficult to transfer enough paint to the desired location where edges meet in corners. Another limitation is that if any bristles are attached to the edge of the paint shield at a location that prevents the shield edge from sitting flush with the wall surface, the bristles facilitate uncontrolled seepage under the shield to the adjacent surface.
Another apparatus is illustrated in the Burns patent, U.S. Pat No. 5,623,740. The Burns device, like the Anderson device, utilizes a two-armed handle in which one arm attaches to the roller cover and the other arm attaches to the shield. The Burns device includes a means by which the roller cover can either be rotated parallel to the shield in order to load the roller cover with paint, or removed from the other portion of the handle and then reassembled. After the roller cover is loaded with paint, it is rotated perpendicular to the shield and the shield provides some degree of protection from the unwanted application of paint on an adjacent surface. While the features of the Burns apparatus provide for more efficient xe2x80x9creloadingxe2x80x9d of paint than the Anderson apparatus, the Burns device has the same fundamental deficiency of the Anderson device in that the shield prevents paint from getting directly to the edge of the surface to be painted. The apparatus leaves a thin but noticeable unpainted line around adjacent edges on the surface intended to be painted, and, as with the Anderson apparatus, repeated passes of the Burns apparatus causes paint to seep uncontrollably under the shield to the edge of the painted surface, and smear unintentionally on the adjacent surface. The problem of excessive seepage is practically unavoidable.
Although the Anderson device already provided for a rotating shield to keep the straight edge of the shield flush against the painted surface, the Burns patent added a new innovation to the paint shield by making it both pivot in one location and rotate at another location, a feature that makes the Burns apparatus both left and right-handed. The innovation to make a single device left and right handed is an improvement over the prior art but the provision in the Burns apparatus for both a pivot point and a rotational point makes the device more complicated and thus more prone to mechanical breakdowns.
The present invention is an apparatus that is useful for painting along the edge of a surface to be painted that lies adjacent to another surface that is not to be painted contemporaneously. The invention resides in the unique configuration of a roller, a shield, a brush, and a handle into a single paint application apparatus. The shield can be a plate of any predetermined shape so long as the brush can have unhindered access to the edge of a surface to be painted. The shield is affixed to a shield arm that is in turn affixed to a handle. The shield does not rotate about a connection point with the shield arm as the prior art devices do. Instead, the shield is fixed with relation to the shield arm. This allows the shield to stay in proper alignment with the roller cover when in use. When the shield is in the paint application position, essentially perpendicular and adjacent to the roller, the roller may be placed in contact with the surface to be painted. The shield in the paint application position blocks the unwanted application of paint to the adjacent surface. A brush of predetermined size, shape, and stiffness is mounted onto the shield roughly perpendicular to the flat edge such that the bristles, or other paint application portion of the brush, extend to the edge of the surface to be painted, but not onto the adjacent surface. In operation, the roller applies the paint up to a short distance from the true edge of the surface and the brush then takes some of the paint and deposits it to the true edge unhindered by the shield. The roller is also affixed to the handle with a separate roller arm. The shield arm can be rotated to a position away from the roller so that the roller can be immersed in paint without getting any paint on the shield, the brush, or the shield arm.
A primary object and/or advantage of the present invention is to combine the benefits of using a paint roller and shield mechanism with the precision of a paint brush to apply paint accurately up to the edge of a surface without any spillover onto an adjacent surface, and without the need to apply tape to the adjacent surface to protect against leakage or an accidental spillover.
It is another object and/or advantage of the present invention to reduce the number of moving parts thus making the present invention both more reliable in terms of wear and tear, and more accurate in terms of paint application.
It is another object and/or advantage of the present invention to make the features of the apparatus easily reversible so that the roller mechanism can paint with the shield either on the left side or the right side of the roller cover.
Other objects and/or advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a reading of the Specification and claims.